A Maasai man looks out at Kenya鈥檚 Maasai Mara National Reserve. But this is no pristine wilderness: behind him are the remnants of a 鈥渃hampagne picnic experience鈥� for tourists.
鈥淭ourists are paying for the privilege of re-enacting a scene from a colonial film,鈥� says photographer Zed Nelson. 鈥淭he Maasai warrior is being paid to add authenticity to the scene.鈥� The image is part of Nelson鈥檚 series The Anthropocene Illusion, which won him Photographer of the Year at the Sony World Photography Awards last month and is featured in a new . Nelson travelled to 14 countries to create the series, which shows how, as the world spirals deeper into environmental crisis, a stage-managed version of nature is proliferating.
In another photo from the series, onlookers observe a whale shark at China鈥檚 Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, the world鈥檚 largest aquarium (pictured above). 鈥淚t鈥檚 an enormous creature with an enormous range in its natural habitat, which raises serious questions about the ethics of keeping it there,鈥� says Nelson. Pictured below, a snow cannon produces artificial snow at a ski resort in the Dolomite mountains in Italy. Around 90 per cent of Italian ski resorts now rely on artificial snow to remain open.
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鈥淭he series is, in essence, about how we have divorced ourselves from the natural world, and are in the process of destroying it,鈥� says Nelson. 鈥淚t looks at how an artificial version of nature has proliferated 鈥� I would argue to hide from ourselves what we have done, and to satisfy our craving for a communion with nature.鈥�
